I do not own American Horror Story: Freak Show.

But I would like to have a little fun here.

A Winter in Wisconsin

October Optimism


"Tampa has fallen through."

Elsa's heavily accented words fell like bricks on their heads, stunning them so that they could not comprehend or respond.

They stared at her and at each other under the tented roof of the big top.

Paul the Illustrated Seal, Amazon Eve, Jimmy the Lobster Boy, Ethel the Bearded Lady, Meep, and Pinheads Salty and Pepper stood in a confused herd of freakish collection, starting at Elsa Mars, reining German queen of the freak show. Toulouse, Legless Suzi, and Ma Petite stood atop the long eating table, their faces agawk at their employer.

It was Jimmy who found the words to speak first.

"What? What does that mean, Elsa?"

Their aging, strawberry blond boss sighed, squared her blue suited shoulders, and gave not an inch.

"What do you think it means, idiot boy? It means we have no place to go for the winter! It means we are going to lose money!"

They looked around at each other.

The members of Fraulein Elsa's Cabinet of Curiosities always went south to Florida for the winter.

It was what they did.

Traveled north to a different location every April and returned to Florida at the end of every September when the weather started to turn.

Except this one.

They'd been bringing in a good steady house several nights a week all summer. So Elsa'd seen the opportunity to rake in some extra dough and extended their stay by a whole month.

Which now in retrospect, might have been a mistake.

Ethel, the Bearded Lady, spoke up first, sounding mildly alarmed.

"Elsa, it gets cold up here!"

Elsa huffed, irritated by the support and loyalty she desired not being automatically handed to her.

"What, are my babies not tough enough to deal with a little chill? Must you always have things just so?"

Ethel soothed her tone, trying to both be a voice of reason.

"But, Elsa, I'm just saying we don't have the supplies we need for this."

The German dame stomped her foot impatiently.

"Then send the Seal and the Lobster into town for some!"

Jimmy clenched his jaw, trying not to flinch at her crass identification of him, well aware she was only throwing another childish tantrum. He glanced over at Paul and saw his cool blue eyes steel as well.

Ethel glanced over at her son and the older, heavily tattooed man next to him. They met her gaze and Paul nodded briefly and turned away, popping Jimmy on the shoulder with his elongated fingers.

"Come on, Jimmy, we'll handle this straight away, mate."


"We're going to need a lot of stuff. Northern winters can be brutal without a solid house to take shelter in."

Jimmy glanced at him nervously, trying to keep his gaze focused on the road stretching out before their old truck puttering along.

"Really?"

Paul nodded grimly and spoke, his voice low and dark.

"Yeah, folks get funny ideas when they get trapped in the cold for a long time. I've even heard tell they resort to cannibalism when they get really desperate."

Jimmy's dark eyes widened in alarm, as he imagined various members of the troupe sitting at their long table, dining on arms and legs of their fellows, sipping from goblets of their chilled blood.

A bark of laughter broke through his dark reverie and Jimmy turned, baffled, to the man in the passenger seat of the truck.

Paul's face was strangely jovial, considering he'd just been ruminating on a winter of forced human flesh-eating.

"Oh, don't worry, mate! I was just having a laugh! We'll be fine!"

Jimmy smiled hesitantly, still trapped in thoughts of Legless Suzi ribs and Salty steaks.

"Besides," Paul continued, still more puckishly. "Ma Petite would take all of us down first. Have you seen her put away hotcakes?"

Jimmy did laugh then and they continued their drive into town for their supplies.


"Okay, what've we got so far, Jimmy?"

Jimmy Darling perused the boxed items already stacked in the truck bed, touching them with his mittened hands.

"Matches, batteries, lantern oil, blankets, ice picks, snow shoes . . ." he trailed off momentarily. "Do you really think we need all this stuff? Elsa's gonna have a fit when she sees how much money we spent."

Paul barely gave him a glance.

"Trust me, mate, when it gets cold, we won't have enough stuff to keep from freezing."

Jimmy scoffed, an eyebrow raised.

"Ah, come on, Paul. How cold can it get?"

Paul huffed and didn't reply to the question. He stared fixedly at their dilapidated truck.

"We really should have snow tires, but . . ."

Jimmy blinked.

"What are snow tires?"

Paul snorted laughter and clapped Jimmy on the shoulder good-naturedly.

"You're going to have loads of fun this winter, mate!"

And off he went laughing, oblivious to the open stares he was receiving from the locals.

Jimmy followed him, completely bewildered.


"You spent how much?"

Elsa's face was turning a searing shade of red and she seems to be sputtering uncontrollably.

Paul held his ground.

"Elsa, love, you've been around the block. You know how bad the cold can get when you're in the elements."

Elsa continued to glare at the short-armed man.

He smiled winningly.

"Besides not everybody shares your . . . talent . . . for staying warm."

The tone in Paul's smooth voice and the sudden gleam in Elsa's piercing eyes made Jimmy suddenly decided to head to the mess tent to see what Suzi had cooked up.

Don't want to see that. Nope. Do not want to go blind.


Jimmy walked the short distance to the mess tent, looking around the fantastic array of colors in the trees.

It's so pretty up here. So many colors. Like a painting or something.

He'd seen the leaves starting to turn in falls years before. But they'd always left before it really burst into autumn fire.

His light jacket protected him from the light chill in the air as his boots crunched across the random leaves strewn in his path.

Maybe this won't be so bad. I mean, this is nice. How bad can it really get?


Hello, sweeties!

Interested in reading this? 'Cause I'm sure having fun writing it. Got several chapters lined up for different events.

Expect short, easy chapters and not too much heavy material. And hey, let me know what you think or would like to see, yeah?

Check out the pic by the way. I found it on google images. I don't know who drew it, but it's adorable! So thank you to the most talented artist, whose name I could not read on the pic. I think it started with a 'j'.

Everybody appreciates feedback. Leave a review if you like.